


My love is a chain around my neck, dragging me down.

by LeannieBananie



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Anger, Angst, Duty, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Gen, Memories, Resentment, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 08:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10486083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeannieBananie/pseuds/LeannieBananie
Summary: She wasn't for him.He knew that, but that didn't stop his angry heart from settling into a new, unsteady rhythm. Two beats of resentment and one beat for her and part of him hated her for it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> *Spoilers for Memory #16*
> 
> Kudos and comments! Leave 'em if you liked it, it truly does mean a lot to us writers. Also, holler at me if you see any mistakes. It's not my best work, something that spilled out, so there's bound to be a few.

This wasn’t the first memory he had found, but this one was different. He had felt detached while watching all of the others, like he was looking at paintings only they moved. A novel experience to be sure, but it left him feeling removed and hollow, even though he saw a younger, more eager version of himself in them. He watched them and saw the emotion, the feelings, but actually _felt_ none of it. He didn’t know why this one was different. No, that wasn’t true. He knew why, but chose to reject it. That was his past, not his present and definitely not his future. Not if he had anything to say about it. That was what he was fighting for, his future, not some slender, blue eyed waif dressed in a flowing white gown. 

This memory begged to differ. 

The Sheikah Slate burned in his hand as the memory faded from his mind and Link gagged, as the now familiar, but unwelcome nausea slammed into his gut. He staggered to the side of the path and braced himself against a tree while he retched into the tall grass, mouth sour and lungs burning. Snarling, he tossed the slate aside, watching the glowing runes dim until it was hidden in the grass. His snarl turned into a choked sob as he sank to the wet ground, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. 

It didn’t help. He could still see her in her mud caked dress and her face streaked with rain and tears. He could _feel_ her hand in his; cold, wet fingers clutching at his hot palm. Feel the moment she lost her own battle and that hand went limp, stopped grasping at his. She had slipped and fallen to her knees, but it had felt like someone had torn her from him his very soul. It burned within him then and now, a hot coal of unwanted tenderness glowing amidst the contempt and fury writhing inside him. Link could feel a lingering sense of helplessness, emotions battering against him as he remembered standing over her, watching her cry in the rain. 

The echoes of her sobs were still ringing in his ears, her broken words haunted him and made him curse her soundly. He was angry that this memory, of all of them made him recall not just his past actions, but emotions as well. He resented being burdened with them, resented _her_ for making him feel them. It was just another chain wrapped around him, another heavy piece of destiny meant to weigh him down, to tangle and twist him up in the fate they’d already decided for him. 

Taking deep even breaths he revisited the haunting memory. She had called herself a failure and even now, with anger curling through his body he knew it wasn’t true. All of them had done everything in their power to save Hyrule and in the end it hadn’t been enough. They had failed, but there was no one to blame for that. He hadn’t been able to voice that then, not when he had felt the exact same way. He had been tasked with protecting her and he had failed. It stung even now, as he railed against the path he was on and her part in it. 

Link fingered the faint scar on his cheek and sighed heavily. She had been slight and frail in his arms, sobbing into his lap, arms curled around his waist. He knew that his former self had felt a confusing mix of regret and anguish when she had flung herself at him. That this was the only way he would ever hold her. In the rain, wet and muddied, weeping as the world fell to ash around them. It made him increasingly bitter, strengthening his loathing for their entangled past. He was her sworn knight, bound by duty to serve her and forsaking a life apart, successfully trapping himself with his own foolish unrequited affections. She was not for him. 

She was meant for greater things and it was just another reason to despise her. That after 100 years she could still kindle that devotion in him, make him admire and respect her. Make him _desire_ her. 

Link violently pushed that wayward thought away and lurched to his feet, wiping at his stale mouth as he grabbed the slate he had carelessly thrown aside. He had lingered too long, night had fallen and he still had ground to cover. Pausing at the edge of the woods he looked back once, the memory flickering once more in his mind’s eye, steeling his resolve. He would finish this and once it was over, he would cast aside his past and the role he had been forced to endure for the last 100 years and live freely.


End file.
